College basketball coaches can be the high priests of hyperbole but Red Storm coach Steve Lavin was in an emotional waste dump the first time he got to see Maurice Harkless play in person.

It was June 5, 2010, the day after John Wooden, Lavin’s mentor, and arguably the second most influential person in his life after his father, Cap, passed away.

Lavin knew it was coming. We all did. Wooden was 99. His teachings will live forever but his time had come.

When someone of that stature — someone who has helped you master your craft and measure yourself as a man — leaves this earth, it’s always a blow to the soul.

So as Lavin watched his first skills camp at St. John’s, he wasn’t in any mood to shower platitudes on any of the players. That is, until he saw an astoundingly smooth 6-foot-8 forward who moved his feet as if on rollerblades and was as poised as an air traffic controller.

Maurice Harkless of Queens did everything with ease and grace.

“Regal,’’ was one of the first words to pop into Lavin’s head.

He turned to assistant coach Tony Chiles, who has established himself as one of the elite recruiters in the Northeast, and, sounding a little like Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” asked, “Who is that guy?”

When St. John’s convinced Harkless, who originally committed to Connecticut before reopening his recruiting when the Huskies were investigated for recruiting violations, to stay home and become a Pied Piper for local players, Lavin said he was the most-complete player he had ever signed.

Some wondered if Lavin was playing the role of High Priest of Hyperbole.

But Lavin had seen Harkless play later that summer in Las Vegas, had seen a skill set that was nothing short of remarkable:

Twice Harkless switched out on picks and slid step for step with point guards. Twice those point guards stepped back, thinking they had created enough separation to launch a jumper. Twice Harkless blocked the shots.

And he didn’t swat them out of bounds, beat his chest and point to the sky. He blocked them and controlled the ball. On one of those blocks he then threw a perfect pass downcourt, hitting a teammate in stride for a layup.

We saw what Lavin saw on Wednesday night when Harkless set a Big East Conference freshman debut scoring record by going for 32 in the Red Storm’s 91-67 demolition of Providence.

We saw him pin Providence freshman LaDontae Henton on the low block, fake to the lane, spin baseline and power in a layup.

We saw him square up from behind the arc and knock down 2-of-3 three-pointers. We saw him grab 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double.

We saw him hand out four assists, make four steals and block two shots. We saw him hit 14-of-17 shots.

Here’s what we didn’t see. We didn’t see him studying film on Monday with assistant coach Rico Hines. When Lavin saw that, he believed a breakthrough game was coming.

Harkless will lead the Red Storm (7-5 overall, 1-0 in the Big East) into Hartford today (Noon, SNY, WBBR 1130 AM) to face the ninth-ranked Huskies (11-1, 1-0). Jim Calhoun will not be on the bench as he serves the second game of a three-game suspension for recruiting violations.

Harkless could have been the Huskies next great wing player following in the legacy of Rip Hamilton, Caron Butler and Rudy Gay. Instead he wears the red and white.

Harkless just might turn out to be one of the best players ever to come out of the city. And that’s no hyperbole.